PACHESTE-L Archives

From: "Roni" <>
Subject: Biography of RICHARD THOMAS
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 11:19:03 -0500

ITEM #15703
September 25, 1860
VILLAGE RECORD
Biography One of the earliest and most active, and reliable,
of the Quaker Whigs of the Revolution, was RICHARD THOMAS, of
Chester Valley, (the 4th of the name.) He was born in West
Whiteland, Chester county, on the 30th of December, 1744. The
townships of East and West Whiteland were originally one, and
called Whiteland. RICHARD AP THOMAS, (the 2d.) of Whitford
Garden in Flintshire, North Wales, having bought of Wm. Penn
five thousand acres in Pennsylvania, about the year 1682, came
over with Tenants, and his son about ten year old, to settle
his lands; but dying soon after his arrival, the guardians and
trustees of the boy did not locate his lands until some years
had elapsed, and were then obliged to go back into the
wilderness of the Great Valley, to obtain any good large
tract. They located one tract, of about a mile square, in
Goshen, the south west corner of which is believed to have
been at the Green Tree Tavern, in the present Borough of West
Chester. They also located a tract, about four miles long, in
the Great Valley, now West Whiteland. Richard (the 3rd,) the
son and heir, married, and settled on this tract, in the year
1711, and sold off small lots, to obtain neighbors. He had
been educated in Philadelphia and studied Physic with one of
his Guardians. He practiced Physic and Surgery, in his
neighborhood, but was never a public character, refusing to
serve under any appointment, or election. He died about the
year 1744 - leaving the residue of his Valley Tract - about
one thousand acres - to his only son, Richard (the 4th,) the
subject of this notice. The land is still chiefly held by his
descendants, under the original patents. The eldest son in the
family was continuously named RICHARD. It was so in their
native village, in Wales, and is still continued, here.
Richard (the 5th) was a sagacious and devoted President of the
Bank of Chester county, and there is now in the direction of
that Institution, the sixth Richard, in a direct line from the
first Immigrants. The Colonial Record of Pennsylvania, from
1774 until the close of the Revolutionary War, are replete
with notices of the active services - both civil and military,
of the 4th Richard Thomas, of Chester county. He was a member
of the first Association, in the county, formed to carry out
the views, and effect the purposes, of the Continental
Congress. In September, 1775, he was Lieut. Colonel of a
Regiment of Volunteers, being the first Regiment raised in
Chester county. On the 19th of April 1776, he was appointed
Colonel of the 5th Batallion of Associators, in the county of
Chester. The commission, dated that day, is signed 'By order
of the Assembly, John Morton, Speaker.'Colonel Thomas was a
member of the Provincial conference or Convention, composed of
the County Committees, which met June 18, 1776. This
Conference appointed the Pennsylvania Delegates who signed the
Declaration of Independence; and also adopted measures for
organizing six thousand Militia, the number assigned to
Pennsylvania, by Congress, as her quota of ten thousand
militia, who were directed to form a Flying Camp for the
middle Colonies. Col. Richard Thomas commanded the Chester
County Regiment of this Flying Camp, in a campaign across New
Jersey, as far as Amboy, for the protection of Philadelphia.
His duties as a Militia officer, of Chester county, in
procuring and distributing arms, and munitions of war, were of
the most arduous and responsible character. In the years 1786
to 1789, inclusive, he was elected a member of Assembly; and
in 1790 he was elected to the State Senate. In April 1793, he
was appointed a Brigadier General of Militia, by Gov. Mifflin;
but declined to accept. In the year 1794, 6 and 8, he was
elected a member of the 4th, 5th and 6th Congress, - being the
first Representative, from his native county, under the
Constitution of the United States. After a long, honorable and
most exemplary life, Richard Thomas died, January 19, 1832, in
the 88th year of his age, leaving a reputation, as a citizen
of the Republic which he aided to established, of which every
Chester county man may well be proud. [NOTAE CESTRIENSES]

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